


Lying to Myself

by drywitticisms



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Black Panther (2018) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Canon Relationships, F/M, Fluff and Mush, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 21:19:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13866222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drywitticisms/pseuds/drywitticisms
Summary: T'Challa is reflecting on the day's events when he receives an unexpected visit from a special someone.





	Lying to Myself

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers!

He’d been sitting in his bedroom contemplating the events of the day. It became a habit of his over the last few years. Even before his father died, he thought it was necessary to go inward so he could think about everything he'd experienced throughout the day. Once he did that, he made the conscious decision of letting go of what didn't serve him and keeping the rest.

That’s how he released the stressors of the day that plagued his mind, body, and spirit. 

It wasn’t healthy to hold onto everything that happened to you, and T’Challa never wanted to grow into a bitter, angry man. 

No, he wanted to do better. _**Be**_ better. 

And this was his way of doing so. 

He’d been thinking about Erik’s words and how he couldn’t see past the anger of his cousin soon enough to fight for him and save his life. 

But T’Challa knew that there was only so much he was responsible for when it came to Erik. He mourned the friendship he could have had with Erik had his own father did the right thing by not abandoning the young boy. 

Unfortunately, his time for reflection on this day wouldn’t succeed in allowing him to let go of the negative things that no longer served him. If he was being completely honest with himself, he didn’t want it to. 

He wanted to take with him every lesson Erik taught him. He wanted to take those lessons and pay it forward so a situation like Erik’s would never happen again. That’s why he chose to implement the outreach program in Erik’s old neighborhood. He knew it wouldn’t completely solve the problem that ailed many others who looked like him, but it was a start. 

Nakia taught him that - there was always more he could do. 

He couldn’t hold himself responsible for what his father did, but he also couldn’t continue putting his head in the sand and ignoring everything going on around him. 

He was King of Wakanda now. 

He couldn’t afford to allow his naivete and ignorance take control of his reign. He had to educate himself and do more. He was thinking of other ways he could help the communities around the world when a soft knock interrupted his thought process. 

He wasn’t expecting visitors, and he was usually notified if someone was coming to his place of rest. He wasn’t terribly hypervigilant at the moment, but he was still on guard. Just in case it was an enemy and he had to fight his way out of his bedroom. 

Slowly gliding across the soft texture of his carpet, he turned the knob of his bedroom door and opened it slightly. 

He was met with the open face of his love. _His Nakia_. 

“Nakia. What are you doing here?” He asked out of surprise. 

It wasn’t that he was unhappy to see her, but he didn’t expect to see her again until tomorrow. 

“I wanted to surprise you. I know you've had a long day, but I wanted to talk to you.” She explained with a careless shrug of her shoulders. 

“It is a good surprise, indeed. Come in, come in.” He replied ushering her into his warm room before closing the door behind them. 

Standing in the middle of his room, T’Challa noticed how anxious she now seemed. She seemed uncomfortable here, and he was sure it was because of the uncertainty of their relationship just a couple of days ago. But he knew just how to fix it. 

“Why don’t you take a seat at my desk?” He asked as he gestured towards the large wooden desk tucked neatly into the corner of his room. 

He watched as her whole body relaxed and freed itself from the tension that culminated just a few seconds prior. 

“I think I will.” She said before padding towards the large desk and taking a seat in his chair. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” He asked before taking his own seat at the foot of his bed. 

“I know we said we would try again but …” Nakia replied before leaving the past of her statement hanging in the balance. 

“You’re not changing your mind, are you?” He asked with a fearful expression across his face. 

No matter what T’Challa did, he couldn’t hide what he was feeling. He was the type of man that always wore his heart on his sleeve, and he was proud of that notion … usually. He wasn’t too proud of that fact right now because she could probably tell everything he was thinking just by looking at his face. But he didn't mind being an open book for her; he wanted her to know everything about him, even the not-so-happy stuff. 

“No! I just .. I just wanted to apologize to you.” She said. “I know our break-up was amicable, but I still feel like I should have been more clear as to why we had to break-up in the first place.” 

“You know I don’t blame you for our break-up, Nakia. You are entitled to your own choices. I don’t own you.” T’Challa stated. 

“I know, but I just feel like maybe if I’d been more honest about what I was feeling, things would have gone differently.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, you know that our break-up didn’t happen because we didn’t love each other anymore. I just wanted to be free to save the world. I wanted to do more. I love Wakanda, but Wakanda isn’t the only place that needed my help and I felt like I was wasting my gift by not going out and doing more.” She explained. 

“You’re right; you could have just told me that, but I don't blame you. You know me. I wouldn’t have stopped you if you had just told me that from the beginning. I love you; I never want to clip your wings. I would have let you go if that's what you needed.” 

“I know. But somehow, in my head, I was convinced that I lacked the freedom to do what I needed to do by being with you. It wasn’t anything that _you_ did; it was just something **I** needed to deal with on my own.” She said. 

“And now?” He asked. 

“And now, I feel like we’re at a better place now. So many things have happened, and I realize that we’re not the same people we were back then. Which is a good thing, because now we can finally be happy together and have the relationship we always wanted.” She replied with a large smile on her face. 

With her words, she stood up from the chair and walked towards T’Challa before taking a gentle seat next to him on his king-sized bed. 

Reaching over to grab one of his hands to lace between her own, she looked him in the eyes. 

“I’m where I need to be, where I’ve **always** wanted to be. I was just lying to myself to make it easier to walk away from you. But now, I know that I can’t walk away from you. It doesn’t matter what I do, because you’re inside of my head.” She said. 

“Well, I guess we were both being stubborn. I never stopped believing that we would find our way back to each other. I knew you needed that time for yourself; but when my .. father died, I just had to see you. You were the first person after my family that I needed to see.” He admitted. 

“I’m glad we found our way back to each other, because I guess we both needed each other.” She said before reaching up to gently touch his jaw. 

She lifted her head up as she gently guided his face down to her lips; T’Challa could feel his eyes close right before his lips met hers and he felt like he was in Heaven. 

Kissing her back, T’Challa felt the fireworks exploded in his head and the butterflies taking flight in his stomach. He felt the warmth inside of him increase as she massaged her tongue with his. His head was spinning, and he didn’t want it to stop. 

He was back where he belonged and it was all because of _her_.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading my other in-progress multi-chapter fic, then I apologize for getting your hopes for another update. I just had to get this little fic out of my head or else it wouldn't have let me sleep. Anyway, I'm already halfway done with the next chapter. I still need to finish up, edit, proofread, and proofread some more before I publish the next chapter.
> 
> But it is coming, my friends. Hang tight!


End file.
